realme 9 5G Speed Review: What’s special about it?

November 13, 2022, 08:56 AM
by Shahriar Rabab

UNB News
Publish- November 13, 2022, 08:56 AM
Shahriar Rabab
Update- November 13, 2022, 09:22 AM

realme 9 5G Speed

Since its inception realme has emphasized providing affordable youth-centric devices. With that stride, the brand launched the Speed edition of the realme 9 on 14th March 2022, even before the release of its namesake. Here’s our detailed take on the realme 9 5G Speed Edition.

Key Specifications of realme 9 5G Speed

Design and Build Quality

The design and the build quality on the 9 Speed Edition are reflections of the previous realme devices. It has a glass front, a plastic frosted back, and a plastic frame. Even though the device is predominantly a plastic build one, it still boasts a solid heft to the touch.

The camera module is positioned vertically on the top left corner of the device. With 8.5 mm thickness, the device brings finesse as well as elegance. Weighing 199g this phone is manageable.

Moving to the ports and button selection, users won't be missing out on anything. The Type – C charging port, the primary mic, the bottom-firing speaker, and the headphone jack are placed side by side. the top features the secondary mic which is ever so special for high-quality calls.

The interesting design choice was the placement of the power button and the volume buttons as they each grace the right and left side of the device respectively. The power button as always complements the fingerprint scanner. To make it even more obvious, realme has dented the frame along with the button to make it more prominent for the touch. And of course, there’s support for two active sims along with a micro SDXC slot.

The overall package is a compact offering that punches way above its price range. At least from the design perspective, realme has absolutely nailed the 9 Speed Edition.

Display

The display on the realme 9 Speed Edition is an IPS LCD one with Panda Glass protection. While this might sound like a letdown for many, bear with us for the rest of the specs. Even though the display is an LCD, it comes with FHD+ resolution, 600 nits HBM, and a whopping 144 Hz refresh rate.

These absolutely stacked specs allow the 9 Speed to conjure arguably the best-performing LCD panel out there, for any price range.

realme has always calibrated its panels for high dynamic, high contrast performance. The colors look crisp with a distinctly warm tone to them.

Not to mention the 144 Hz refresh rate everything is buttery smooth. And if the display smoothness wasn’t enough, realme has made the animations even faster which only doubles down on the already lightning-fast experience.

Overall, the display experience is easily the highlight of the device, especially considering the price.

Camera Series

The realme 9 Speed features a different camera module from the standard 9. The main sensor is a 48 MP (f/1.8 aperture, 26mm width, ½-inch) one which is a downgrade from the 108 MP one found on the standard 9.

The other two are 2 MP (f/2.4) macro and 2MP (f/2.4) depth sensors which are mostly there for marketing stunts rather than performance.

But that doesn’t take away from the overall camera output. The Sony IMX586 sensor captures perfect daylight and portrait shots. The images look sharp with great details and dynamic range. The edge detection on the portrait shots was also noticeably better than last year’s.

The Sony sensor also does a decent job indoors and with artificial lighting. Granted the image quality isn’t as good as daylight but it can still pull off a decent job. The images have a consistent exposure with reduced grains and noises. It sure won’t compete with the industry leaders but it's definitely a touch above its peers.

The story is also the same with the 16 MP (f/2.1 aperture, 26mm wide, 1/3.09-inch, 1.0µm) front camera. It’s a good wide-angle shooter perfect for selfies.

For the rear camera series, the videography maxes out at 4K at 30 fps with the 1080P supporting up to 120 fps slo-mo. There’s no external stabilization. As a result, the videos appear to be a bit shaky. Other than that, it’s a very capable camera system.

With the front camera, you can shoot 1080pixel footage at 30fps.

Processor and Performance

The realme 9 Speed takes the processing power up a notch from the standard 9. The Speed edition comes with Snapdragon 778G 5G built on the 6 nm architecture.

The octa-core chipset has 1 2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 and 3 2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 and 4 1.9 GHz Cortex-A55 chips for efficient and balanced performance.

The realme 9 Speed absolutely blazes through day-to-day tasks partly because of this efficient processor and the smooth animation with a high refresh rate display. The 778 5G performs well on the gaming front as well.

Titles like Asphalt 9 and COD run smoothly on high graphics settings thanks to the Adreno 642L GPU. The only downside would be that the device does get heated up after half an hour or so of continued gaming.

The OS is based on the realme UI 3.0 with Android 11 out of the box. realme has since released a stable Android 12 for the device.

On paper and in real-life usage, the realme 9 Speed is the perfect upper-mid-range device. For any average user, the device will easily give a flagship-like feeling at a fraction of the cost.

Battery and Charge Time

The realme 9 Speed Edition sports a 5000 mAh battery with 30W fast charging on board. The high refresh rate display demands a lot of power and the battery life is justifiably a bit short at around 5-6 hours of SoT.

realme claims that the charger can top up the device up to 50% in just 25 minutes. So, charging should be an easy affair here.

Price of realme 9 5G Speed Edition

The realme 9 Speed Edition has two variants: 6/128 GB and 8/128 GB. The price for the base model stand at 19,999 INR (25,366 BDT) whereas the upper variant comes at 22,999 INR (29,171 BDT). The conversion rate is 1 INR = 1.27 BDT. The official price of realme 9 Speed Edition may vary in Bangladesh.

Final Words

The youth-centric smartphone brand realme provides solutions for people looking for a capable device without breaking the bank. This has been the story with almost every single device from the company including realme 9 speed edition.

Does 9 Speed Edition essentially justify its name? Its fast performance all around is satisfactory. Its display, processor, or charging speed, everything seems standard.

However, the camera performance has been reduced a bit with the main sensor in favor of the speed. But that only makes a minimal difference. On the whole, if you are looking for a standard mid-range device, you can consider the realme 9 5G speed.